The Hare and the Tortoise

On a soft green meadow, where dandelions glowed like little suns in the grass, there lived a hare. The hare was fast. So fast that his ears whooshed when he ran, and so fast that the butterflies had no time to move when he shot past. And oh, how he loved to brag. Every morning he hopped onto a stone in the middle of the meadow and called out over the flowers: 'Nobody is as fast as me! Not even the wind can catch me. Not even the shadow of a bird can catch me.' The dandelions nodded quietly in the grass. The bees hummed on between the clover. They had heard it before. Many, many times.

Down on a stony path came a tortoise walking. Her name was Tilda. She had a beautifully patterned shell that shone in the sun, greenish-yellow like an autumn leaf, and four small feet that took very small steps. Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap. Tilda was never in a hurry. She looked at the flowers as she walked past them. She looked at the clouds drifting across the sky like white pancakes. Sometimes she stopped and smelled the heather. She liked listening to the crickets. She had plenty of time, and no hurry at all in the whole world.

The hare saw the tortoise and started to laugh. He laughed so much his ears shook. 'Look how funny!' he shouted, and jumped down from the stone. 'Tortoise, tortoise, your legs are so short. You walk so slowly the grass grows while you take a single tiny step!' He pointed at his own long back legs. 'Look at me. I can run to the edge of the forest and back before you have lifted a single foot.' Tilda stopped and looked calmly at the hare. She was not angry. She was not sad. She smiled a small, quiet smile and said: 'I am not fast. But I get to where I want to go.'

'Get there!' giggled the hare. 'You will never get there as fast as me.' Tilda blinked calmly with her calm eyes. Then she said something nobody had ever heard a tortoise say before: 'Then let us race.' The hare went silent. Then he laughed so hard he nearly fell over. He laughed until his eyes watered. A tortoise who wanted to race a hare? It was the funniest thing he had heard in his whole life. 'This will be the easiest win I have ever had,' thought the hare, wiping the tears from his eyes. 'I say yes, little tortoise. I say yes.'